SPRINGFIELD, Ill. \u2014 Vice President Harris dominated the news last week as she became the likely Democratic nominee, a first for a woman of color. But that potentially historic milestone barely registered for Jasmine Hudson, who was sitting in grief over another Black woman in the news: her second cousin, Sonya Massey.<\/p>\n
On July 22, the same day Harris locked up endorsements for the nomination, Illinois State Police released body-camera video showing the fatal July 6 shooting of Massey, a 36-year-old mother of two, by a sheriff\u2019s deputy who responded to Massey\u2019s 911 call about a potential prowler at her south Springfield home.<\/p>\n
Hudson, who is also Black, had struggled to eat or sleep as her family sought answers about why and how Massey was killed. The footage only made the pain worse. The woman she saw in the video was the same person she\u2019d known her entire life \u2014 a slight, petite woman who was soft-spoken and spiritual, \u201csomeone who wouldn\u2019t hurt anyone,\u201d she said. And now, her cousin was a hashtag, joining other Black women like Breonna Taylor whose lives were cut short in fatal police encounters.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family is not doing good at all,\u201d said Hudson, 33, struggling to speak through tears. \u201cWe are in shambles. We are in shock. We are distraught. \u2026 Why did this happen to her? It doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Hudson, it all seemed so far away from the world where Harris\u2019s ascent was being celebrated. One Black woman has the chance to make history as the first female president, while another Black woman, dressed in her pajamas and a headscarf, is regarded as a threat and shot to death in her kitchen.<\/p>\n
Harris will formally accept the nomination at the Democratic convention later this month in Chicago, 200 miles northeast of where Massey died in Springfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to see Black women are making strides, but we are not making enough strides. Because if that was the case, my cousin should have been able to call for help and not been killed by a police officer,\u201d Hudson said.<\/p>\n
Massey\u2019s death comes four years after the police killings of Taylor and George Floyd, whose final minutes beneath the unrelenting knees of a Minneapolis police officer were captured in a horrific viral video that spurred worldwide protests and an American reckoning on race and policing that continues to divide the country.<\/p>\n
Floyd\u2019s murder spurred promises of change from across the political spectrum. But for many Black Americans, who still live in fear of their interactions with law enforcement, that change hasn\u2019t materialized. Many of the proposed reforms championed by President Biden and Harris haven\u2019t passed \u2014 including legislation that would make it easier to punish and fire problem officers and enact limits on racial profiling and the use of deadly force.<\/p>\n
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who was retained by Floyd\u2019s family and Taylor\u2019s mother, is now representing the Massey family and fought for the public release of the body-cam footage. \u201cIt is the worst police-shooting video I have ever seen,\u201d Crump said last week.<\/p>\n
On the morning after the footage was made public, Crump was with Massey\u2019s parents when he saw that he had missed a call from Harris, a friend and ally who regularly calls him for updates about his cases. She was trying to connect with Massey\u2019s family, he said.<\/p>\n
The night before, Crump had been one of the speakers on a call with thousands of Black men, urging them to rally behind Harris\u2019s bid for the presidency, and now he was with Massey\u2019s family in the darkest moment of their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was thinking about my dear friend \u2026 ascending to this place where no other Black woman has ever been in the history of the United States,\u201d Crump recalled. \u201cAnd literally at the same time \u2026 I\u2019m thinking about the loss of so much the world could have gotten from Sonya Massey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crump thought of his 11-year-old daughter. Would Harris\u2019s milestone change things for her? Or would she grow up in the reality that Massey and other Black women have faced? \u201cThe fact is that no matter how high a Black woman rises in America, there is no guarantee that she will be respected and protected,\u201d Crump said.<\/p>\n
In the stories of Harris and Massey, Crump said, \u201cit really is a tale of two historical moments in America. It\u2019s like the best of times and the worst of times.\u201d<\/p>\n
That dichotomy was on the minds of many here in Springfield, the state capital of Illinois and a city of roughly 110,000 known for its connection to two storied American presidents who made history on issues of race: Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama. They both launched their political careers here, and their names and images are everywhere.<\/p>\n
But Springfield also has an ugly history on race. A violent 1908 race riot left several people dead, hundreds injured and scores of Black-owned businesses burned and destroyed, leading to the founding of the NAACP. And more than a century later, the scars from that seismic event linger, residents say, in a city that remains deeply segregated and where discussion of Springfield\u2019s fraught racial history was rare until recently, despite its connection to the first Black president.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople talk about Abraham Lincoln, and they talk about Barack Obama. But many people didn\u2019t know about the race riots because it was a taboo secret that people didn\u2019t talk about,\u201d said Teresa Haley, a Black activist and former president of the local NAACP.<\/p>\n
Massey\u2019s killing at the hands of a White police officer has only enforced a feeling that little has changed over the past 115 years, Haley said.<\/p>\n
Haley, 59, has barely slept since she saw the video of Massey\u2019s shooting. \u201cEach time I watch it, I think about Black women all over America being hunted,\u201d she said last week, as she stood with members of the Massey family during a news conference at the local NAACP headquarters. \u201cThose of us who have sons and daughters, we used to be concerned about our sons. But now we need to be concerned about Black women, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is skeptical Harris\u2019s political rise will change anything for Black women or protect them from being killed. \u201cIt\u2019s our reality. It\u2019s become our new normal. And it should not be that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Others worry that Harris\u2019s candidacy will only intensify the racism and sexism that women of color already experience \u2014 especially as she runs against former president Donald Trump, who has a history of insulting women and people of color. Trump questioned Harris\u2019s racial identity on Wednesday, saying that she \u201cwas Indian all the way\u201d but then \u201cbecame a Black person\u201d for political benefit. Harris later condemned \u201cthe divisiveness and the disrespect\u201d of Trump\u2019s words.<\/p>\n
The incident that led to Massey\u2019s killing unfolded in the early morning hours of July 6 when she called 911 reporting a potential intruder. Two deputies from the Sangamon County Sheriff\u2019s Office responded and searched around Massey\u2019s house. Finding nothing, they knocked on the front door. According to the body-camera footage, it took roughly three minutes for Massey to open the door, and when she did, she immediately seemed nervous, quietly telling the officers, \u201cDon\u2019t hurt me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The video shows Deputy Sean Grayson towering over Massey \u2014 who, according to her autopsy, stood 5 feet 4 inches and weighed 112 pounds. As he pressed Massey on why she had taken so long to come to the door, she quickly apologized and explained that she had been getting dressed.<\/p>\n
According to her family, Massey had been suffering from mental health issues, and she was home alone \u2014 her teenage son and daughter were staying with relatives while she sought help. Her mother, Donna, had called 911 a day earlier to report that her daughter was having a mental breakdown and pleaded with an operator: \u201cPlease don\u2019t send no combative policemen that are prejudiced \u2014 please.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is unclear whether Grayson or his partner knew about that call or Massey\u2019s mental troubles. In the video, Massey appears confused, but she remains unfailingly polite, at one point thanking the officers for coming. \u201cI love y\u2019all. Thank y\u2019all,\u201d she says, as she seeks to close the door.<\/p>\n
The footage shows the officers ending up inside her home \u2014 waiting for Massey to produce identification. At one point, Grayson notices a pot of boiling water sitting over a flame on the stove. \u201cWe don\u2019t need a fire while we\u2019re here,\u201d he tells Massey, according to the footage from his partner\u2019s body camera. (Grayson had not activated his camera, a violation of department policy, according to the sheriff\u2019s office.)<\/p>\n
The video shows Massey walking to the kitchen to remove the pot from the stove, taking it near the sink. Suddenly, the officers, who are standing in the living room, appear to consider the boiling water a potential threat, and as they back away, Massey twice tells them, \u201cI rebuke you in the name of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officers appear to regard Massey\u2019s words as a threat \u2014 though the statement is a common spiritual phrase that invokes the power of the Messiah to speak out against something untoward, negative or evil. Massey\u2019s family has said the phrase was common in their predominantly Black church, and they believe she sensed something bad was about to happen.<\/p>\n
Grayson drew his gun and pointed it at Massey, shouting expletives and threatening to shoot her. The woman ducked and immediately apologized. The footage shows Grayson step from the living room toward Massey, firing three times.<\/p>\n
Massey\u2019s autopsy, made public last week, found she was hit once in the face, near her lower left eyelid. The bullet trajectory was downward, exiting out the back of her neck, according to the coroner \u2014 a detail Crump says suggests that Massey was in a stooped position when Grayson shot her.<\/p>\n
The video shows Grayson discourage his partner from trying to help Massey, who was still breathing. \u201cThat\u2019s a headshot,\u201d Grayson said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing you can do, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grayson, 30, who had worked for Sangamon County since May 2023, was indicted July 17 on five counts, including three charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. Grayson has pleaded not guilty and is being held at the Sangamon County Jail without bond. He was fired from the sheriff\u2019s office. Daniel Fultz, an attorney for Grayson, declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The morning after the video footage was released, Harris said, \u201cSonya Massey deserved to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe disturbing footage released yesterday confirms what we know from the lived experiences of so many \u2014 we have much work to do to ensure that our justice system fully lives up to its name,\u201d Harris said in a statement. She called on Congress to pass police reforms, including legislation that would enact uniform policing rules across the country and make it easier to punish or charge bad officers.<\/p>\n
That bill, known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, was co-authored by Harris in 2020 when she was in the Senate \u2014 and still has not passed.<\/p>\n
Massey\u2019s death has not drawn the national attention other high-profile police killings have \u2014 something that many of those grieving in Springfield have blamed on the intense barrage of news in recent weeks, including Trump\u2019s attempted assassination and Biden\u2019s exit from the presidential race.<\/p>\n
And likewise, few Black women here say they\u2019ve had the emotional capacity to process what it would mean to have a Black woman atop the presidential ticket. But many have drawn parallels from this moment to the past.<\/p>\n
Tiffani Saunders, a sociologist and organizer with Black Lives Matter Springfield, is reminded of the post-slavery era when some Black people were getting elected to office for the first time, even as other Black people were being lynched. \u201cIn some ways,\u201d she said, \u201cthis is more of the same historical narrative than like a blip of something different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunshine Clemons, 45, thinks of Philando Castile, a Black man who was fatally shot in July 2016 by a Minneapolis-area police officer during a traffic stop. Days after his death, Clemons helped found the local Black Lives Matter chapter to help Black residents cope with their grief and fight for change.<\/p>\n
Clemons couldn\u2019t stop thinking about how Castile and Massey were killed on the same day, eight years apart. \u201cHe launched us, and now we\u2019re fighting for her in our city,\u201d Clemons said, wiping tears away. It added to a sense of futility, that nothing would bring real change \u2014 not even a Black woman president.<\/p>\n
She said she\u2019s been too \u201coverwhelmed and exhausted and angry and sad\u201d to process the presidential race. \u201cI can\u2019t even see outside our city right now,\u201d Clemons said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like that\u2019s an alternate reality that\u2019s happening. You talk about, this is progress. But that just feels like a completely different world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, a couple hundred people marched through downtown Springfield toward the county government building, home to the courthouse, sheriff\u2019s office and jail where Grayson remains in custody.<\/p>\n
The crowd of mostly Black people, but also a few Whites, paused before the front steps and chanted, \u201cJustice for Sonya Massey!\u201d Several parents walked with their young children or wheeled them in wagons. One woman carried a sign with Massey\u2019s words: \u201cDon\u2019t hurt me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among those peacefully marching was Doris Turner, 70, an Illinois state senator who made history when she became the first Black woman to represent Springfield in the state legislature. Turner said she was thrilled by the history Harris could make if she becomes the first Black female president.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s for the future generations,\u201d Turner said. \u201cWhen I talk about my own history, it\u2019s not because I think I am all that great or fabulous. It\u2019s because I want the little Black girls to know they can do it, too. And that\u2019s what Vice President Harris\u2019s election means to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Turner acknowledged that the history Harris could make stands in stark contrast to what happened to Massey, a close family friend who had just been on Turner\u2019s porch talking to her a week before she was killed.<\/p>\n
Turner has found herself questioning God about why two such cataclysmic events happened at once. \u201cGod is at work in everything that we do. \u2026 What are we supposed to be learning from this; what are we supposed to be doing?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For now, Turner has joined with Massey\u2019s family in seeking justice. But she wondered whether the tragedy could serve as a wake-up call for Black people. \u201cI think that people who have been pretty disinterested about the election and thinking about it in terms of, \u2018It\u2019s not going to matter to me one way or another.\u2019 I think that this shows them the difference and shows them that elections matter, and it shows them that representation matters,\u2019 Turner said.<\/p>\n
But many weren\u2019t convinced that Harris\u2019s rise would mean a dramatic difference in how Black women are treated by society and by the police.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlack women are not respected. They are not cared for,\u201d said Hudson, Massey\u2019s cousin. \u201cThey are held to different standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hudson began to cry thinking of her 9-year-old twin daughters and their futures. She had never been one to mince words with her girls \u2014 warning them from a young age of what it means to be Black in America, including how to interact with law enforcement, how people perceive you because of the color of your skin. It was the only way she knew to keep them safe and alive.<\/p>\n
She took them to one of the protests over Massey\u2019s death, explaining what happened to her cousin and why they were there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are so smart,\u201d Hudson said, crying. \u201cThey need to know what kind of world we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. \u2014 Vice President Harris dominated the news last week as she became the likely Democratic nominee, a first for a woman of color. But that potentially historic milestone barely registered for Jasmine Hudson, who was sitting in grief over another Black woman in the news: her second cousin, Sonya Massey. On July 22, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7246,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}